Stephenson said the playing-fast mode that nabbed six of eight standings points on the road trip was in place Tuesday: “I think we are just more seamless now. I think guys are just reacting more thinking. Everybody, the overall team, everything just feels more connected.”
Defensive stalwart Adam Larsson was moving Florida’s power forward, including last week’s NHL First Star Matthew Tkachuk, away from the crease on a regular basis. He said the idea was to keep the Panthers as far away from the net as possible. Obviously, yes, but his point was to take away the power net-front game. Short of a flurry of rebounds at the front end of the second period, the strategy was working.
Kudos For Daccord
Along with Stephenson’s praise, Adam Larsson brought up Daccord’s playing of the puck without prompting from the media scrum. He credited Daccord with being part of transitioning quickly from defense to offense. Dan Bylsma liked what he saw from Daccord and his defensemen, especially what can be argued as the Kraken goaltender’s best game of the season (and maybe all Kraken starts), handling and moving the puck up ice).
There were two or three stops in [the second period] that were big saves, red-bell saves,” said Bylsma. I thought we did a good job of living on the outside [Larsson’s point]. We did a good job of clearing the front of the net, something [net-front presence] the Panthers are really, really good at. I thought all six defensemen did a really good job of that, but back behind them was Joey. I think that his puck play was a key thing against the team that dumps a lot of pucks in, rips a lot of pucks in, having Joey back there playing the puck. It was huge for our breakout, huge for our defense.”
From Low-Event to High Energy
This game started as what coach Dan Bylsma would call a low-event game, with four shots on goal between the two teams in the opening nine minutes, three by Seattle. But matters got sticky soon enough for the Kraken starting goalie Joey Daccord, back in net after a sleepless night fighting off an illness over the weekend, forcing Seattle to sign a backup goalie who played for NCAA Alaska-Anchorage but is in New York these days pursuing a finance degree.
In part because of Florida's power play, the defending Stanley Cup champions generated four high-danger scoring chances in the second half of the first period, with Daccord making some key saves and, truthfully, getting some help from his teammates on two scrambles net-front that looked like Panthers goals. On one such scrum, Jamie Oleksiak prevented a wraparound chance with the puck caroming onto the slot, where veteran bottom-six forward Tomas Nosek was about to score a gimme before Oliver Bjorkstrand lifted Nosek’s stick to continue an encouraging trend of Kraken players disrupting with attentive sticks.
As it turned out, Florida finished with 11 shots on goal in the frame but no success against Daccord. The Kraken broke through first instead when Yanni Gourde slipped a pass at the Panthers' blue line to a wide-open Chandler Stephenson. The veteran center and summer free agent signee calmly but quickly dispatched the puck past Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky glove-side. Jared McCann got the second assist by getting the puck up ice to fellow winger Gourde.
The goal was one of many examples Kraken keeping the puck out of their zone with all six defensemen doing the work at different times. Make no mistake, Florida had its share of chances during the first 39 minutes of game time. But the Kraken five-man units, shift after shift, were closing down extended possession by the Cup champs. When Florida was pushing and firing shots off rebounds, Daccord kept his positioning and his cool to make saves, including letting the occasional puck hit him because he was in the right place at the right time.
What worked for Seattle continued in the first two periods of this homestand: The Kraken were getting out of their own zone with crisp passes and skating hard, basically playing fast.
“With the puck and without the puck, when you force other teams to deal with that speed,” when you force other teams to have to go back [into their own zone] and deal with where that pucks at, it's that's the recipe we need to have for success,” said Dan Bylsma after Tuesday’s morning skate when asked about flourishing on the recent road trip and what was needed to put up a win against Florida.
Wrong-Way Turning Point
With 2:03 left in the middle period, Daccord made a sprawling save on Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad to prevent a shorthanded goal on the Kraken’s second power play of the night. It would have marked Florida’s eighth short-handed goal of the year already.
Just a minute later the game took a wrong turn for the Kraken faithful, which were vocal all game. The aforementioned Gourde made a break for the net but lost the chance and the puck. Florida took advantage of several Kraken players deep in the offensive zone, anticipating a possible rebound or loose puck by getting four players up the ice in a hurry. Florida captain Aleksander Barkov scored on a one-timer at the right faceoff circle, taking a pass from Sam Reinhart, who created time and space but skated and held the puck a few beats extra.
It was Barkov’s ninth goal of the year, and Reinhart notched his 20th assist.
Gourde played one shift in the third period, then returned to the locker room and announced done for the night with a lower-body concern, adding injury to what TV analyst Eddie Olczyk (he called for a penalty shot) and Climate Pledge Arena fans thought was an insulting no-call.
Montour Faces His Ex-Teammates, Usual Impressive Game
Defenseman Brandon Montour, per usual, was all over the rink Tuesday, making great plays in all zones. He had three high-quality scoring chances in the middle period alone, two forcing big saves for Bobrovsky and another sailing wide. Montour was also at the ready on a 2-on-1 rush with Andre Burakovsky, who took the shot. The Kraken big-name free agent, along with ex-Panther Josh Mahura, received their Stanley Cup championship rings during a dinner Monday night.
